THREE-DIMENSIONAL THERMAL OR PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR PANEL WITH INTEGRAL HOLOGRAPH

The present invention relates to a solar panel with 3D unitary structures or cavities that is made entirely of plastic materials and used both in thermal and photovoltaic applications. The assembly is lightweight free from the need for aluminum frames or external securing systems since the rigidity is assured by the structure itself. Plastic injection further allows directly incorporating a securing or gripping system. It also allows adding openings for inter-connecting solar cells to one another. Each 3D unitary structure concentrates sunlight on the end solar radiation receivers (pipes (6) or cells (8) ), covering the entire seasonal and daily spectrum of angles of incidence, without needing active solar tracking. The thickness of said structure is small as a result of taking advantage of the concentrating advantages of not only one but three optical elements: on the plastic base (12) there are placed a highly reflective surface (10), a reflection hologram (9) having a wide spectral and angular bandwidth, and a transparent optical medium (11) with a refractive index and tilt angle such that it traps the light therein by total internal reflection (TIR). Optical losses are therefore significantly reduced and a large part of the solar spectrum is directed towards the radiation receiver.